Daddies' Little Girl
by WhiteravenGreywolf
Summary: "He suddenly heard a high-pitched scream just as the thunder roared outside. He almost bolted out of his bed, worry seizing his heart, if Jesse hadn't done it before him. Apparently there was only one thing capable to wake the cowboy up, a fearful scream from his daughter." Three moments of McHanzo parenting. For my sister.


A/N: Hi guys! This story is dedicated to my sister, Amandine! Happy Birthday sis! I tried to write you some yaoi, but it turned into a kids fic! I hope you'll like it anyway!

On another note, dear reader, I know I've been gone for a while, and I just updated my profil with more infos, so check it out!

* * *

Thunder rolled outside, shaking the small house to its core. Instinctively, Hanzo opened his eyes. He was always a light sleeper, waking up at the first sign of danger, or when thunder boomed very close to their house. Besides him, however, Jesse was still peacefully snoring, his shirt raised enough for his metal hand to rest on his belly. Somehow, Hanzo realized, he had hogged the cover, leaving Jesse completely exposed to the night air. Again, this didn't seem to bother the younger man. Hanzo knew by now he was a heavy sleeper. If a third Omnic Crisis was to start right now, Jesse might just sleep through it.

Hanzo sat up. It was still dark, but his entire room came into the light when a flash of lightning passed through the shutters. He suddenly heard a high-pitched scream just as the thunder roared outside. He almost bolted out of his bed, worry seizing his heart. Jesse instantly jumped awake. Apparently, there was only one thing capable to wake the cowboy up, a fearful scream from his daughter. But before either of them could even make it out of their bedroom the door flew open, and a little girl ran in, before jumping straight into Hanzo's arms, almost tackling him on his bed again.

"Daddy I'm scared!"

Immediately, Hanzo began to caress the little girl's messy dark hair, holding her close to him with his other arm. Jesse, who finally seemed to be passed the initial shock, sat on the bed beside Hanzo, and passed his hand soothingly on his daughter's back, making small and slow circles with his palm. Thunder once again crashed close to the house, making the shutter tremble. The little girl began to tremble, about to cry if the strangled sobs were anything to go by. She was holding her plushy - a fluffy dog with a red scarf around its neck - so close to her that the head of the poor animal was almost comically squished. Quickly, Jesse tried to calm her down, whispering:

"It's alright... It's alright... shhh..."

Hanzo just held her, almost helplessly, passing slowly his hand through her hair. Thunder cracked again, but it seemed farther already. Still, the little girl flinched.

"Amanda... Look at me?" he asked gently.

Amanda moved away from him, just enough for her dark teary eyes to met his. Her little button nose was already red, and if her cheeks were free of any tears, he could feel his own shirt was slightly damp.

"You don't have to be afraid. It's only thunder. It's already going away."

"Yeah honey," Jesse added "It's just loud noise, like when dad practices at the shootin' range. You like going to the shootin' range, don't you?"

"Yeah but..." the little girl tried to speak through her sobs and her painfully tightening throat. "What if the thunder falls on us, and..."

Jesse began to caress her back once again. Hanzo reassured her:

"It's alright... the lightning can't fall on us. There's a big lightning rod just a few block from here, and the lightning falls there."

"It's alright pumpkin, it's just a big bright light and bit of noise. Just like at the shootin' range. Got it?"

Amanda nodded, but she still flinched when thunder fell again.

"Can... can I stay here tonight?" she asked with a small strangled voice.

"Of course." Hanzo instantly replied, without even exchanging a look with Jesse.

Without letting go of the little girl, he lay back down and rolled to his side. Amanda squealed with surprise and laughed almost happily. Jesse went back to his side of the bed, and soon enough he encircled his daughter as well, bringing himself as close to her as possible.

"Dad! I can't breathe!" she declared with a laugh.

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought this was an Amanda sandwich we were makin'!"

He scooted away enough to leave a bit more space to his daughter, but never let go of her.

* * *

Hanzo was the first to come home that afternoon. He placed the bag of groceries and his keys on the counter and was about to unpack the groceries when he noticed the backpack casually left in the middle of the corridor, next to a pair of purple shoes. He called out:

"Amanda, I'm home!"

No answer. He frowned. What time was it? He looked at the holographic screen on the fridge. It was just around the time his daughter should be back from school. She hadn't fallen asleep yet, had she? His groceries all but abandoned, Hanzo made his way up the stairs.

"Amanda?" he called again.

He passed his head through his daughter's bedroom door. The room was a bland of children's toys and school supplies, and already a few posters were covering the walls, mostly from movies she'd like. But there wasn't a single sign of his daughter. He hurried downstairs, and called almost worriedly:

"Amanda?!"

She didn't usually leave home after coming back from school, and the few times she did she called him first, letting him known she was at a friend's place. Hanzo quickly pushed the back-door open. He let out a relieved sigh when he finally found his daughter, sitting with her back to him on the swing. Her black hair was still attached to the braid he had made for her in the morning. He walked up to her quickly at first, until he noticed the way she was holding herself. Her head was lowered, looking at her feet which barely grazed the grassy ground. She was obviously not okay, and his heart constricted at the thought that perhaps someone had harmed his little girl.

Hanzo picked up one of the garden chairs and brought it next to the swing. In silence, he sat down beside his daughter and waited. Amanda was usually a cheerful kind of girl, and he knew only a few things could get her down. He had always assumed she had gotten it from Jesse.

"Do I need to bring the ice cream tub already, or can we talk first?" he asked.

"There's nothing to talk about... I'm stupid..."

He frowned.

"My daughter, stupid? Who would dare to say such a thing?"

"I'm saying it... I'm stupid!"

It became obvious that his daughter was mostly angry at herself.

"Why would you say that?" he asked.

Instead of answering, she angrily took a piece of paper out of her pocket and held it out to him. He took the crumpled paper and unfolded it. His eyes quickly scanned the paper. It was the geometry test Amanda had passed the previous week, the one he remembered she had said she could prepare on her own. A large D- had been written right next to her name, in blood red ink. He looked over the questions, and the answers his daughter had given.

"Well, why would this make you stupid?"

"Because I'm the only one who had a D-, everyone else had an A or a B!"

She still didn't dare to look at him, her gaze focused on the tip of her flip-flops.

"Who cares about what the others did?"

She grumbled something but he only understood half of it. He sighed. While he had always been a very good student, especially in any scientific subjects, he knew Jesse had never been a good student. And somehow, he wondered, maybe along with passing his personality, he had passed his less than stellar scholastic performances.

"Maybe you are not made to do maths, like your dad. He told me he was good in literature, but that may just be a lie..."

Amanda crossed her arms and pouted.

"But I need to be good at maths!"

"Why?"

"Because I want to be an architect, and I can't be an architect if I'm not good at maths!"

Hanzo nodded. While he was quite surprised to hear his daughter's carrier plan, he was glad she hadn't said she wanted to become a soldier. He had done his best to keep her off that path, and he was relieved to hear it had worked.

"You know what? Next geometry test I'll help you. I was always very good at maths."

She shook her head vigorously, sending her braid to rest on her shoulder. Without looking she snatched the paper out of his hands and folded it carelessly.

"No. I need to do this myself."

She was about to jump off the swing but Hanzo got a hold of her hand. She finally dared to look at her father. They had the same eyes, he knew, and he could see his younger self through her, the Hanzo who could do anything on his own, or would die trying.

"I know how you feel. But you don't need to prove to anyone that you are smart. I know it. Your dad knows it. Let me help you. After all, I suppose working as a team is something an architect should know how to do."

She looked at him for a few more seconds, and when he let go of her hand she nodded.

"Alright..."

He smiled.

"So, how about some ice cream, before we get to work?"

The shadow of a smile graced her lips, only making her father smile brighter. He got up and picked up the chair to set it back next to the table. He joined his daughter as she walked back into the house:

"You should probably enjoy it, too, since I assume as soon as your dad will hear about your D- you'll probably be grounded."

Amanda only sighed, resolved.

* * *

"Thank you for coming." Fareeha declared as she leaned closer to the couple.

"Why d'you have to make this whole thing sound like a secret meetin'?" Jesse asked.

Fareeha, Jesse, and Hanzo were seating at a small table in the restoration area of the mall, two empty chairs beside them. Hanzo glanced between Fareeha and her daughter, Alya, waiting in line with Amanda to buy some ice cream. The two girls were talking actively, smiling happily at each other. Alya was a carbon copy of Fareeha. Almost the same height, just as broad-shouldered. Her skin was just a bit lighter, and while she had the same jet black hair, now tied in a small ponytail, she had Angela's vivid blue eyes. She was just a year or so older than Amanda. In contrast, Amanda was rather small, smaller than Hanzo. She had short black hair, held in a high bun above her head, and dark slanting eyes, his. How she had gone from a little baby crying for her plush to this smart young woman he didn't know.

"Because it's kind of... well, it's about the girls..."

Fareeha threw another glance toward their daughters.

"I know for a fact that Alya has a crush on Amanda."

The two men exchanged a skeptic look.

"How?" Hanzo asked.

"It was in her diary."

"You read your daughter's diary, now?" Jesse asked rather surprised.

"Not me!" she quickly declared, mindful of not talking too loud. "Angela did. She said she found it by accident."

The look both men gave her told her that they didn't believe it either.

"Where is she anyway?"

"Working. She had a shift at the hospital, she told me to 'handle it'." Fareeha replied, making quotation marks with her fingers.

After exchanging another look with his partner, Jesse asked:

"So, what does she want to do about it?"

"Nothing, I guess. She just wanted to know how comfortable you were with the idea."

"The idea?" Hanzo asked.

"The idea of Alya and Amanda dating."

Hanzo almost seemed horrified to hear it being said out-loud. His precious daughter, dating someone? Not until she was twenty-five, he had decided a long time ago. Jesse seemed to sense Hanzo's fury and quickly took his hand in his.

"It's alright, hon'."

"No, it's not, she's too young for that kind of things!"

"She's eighteen, you know..."

Still, Hanzo wasn't about to let it go so easily.

"I don't care, Jesse! She's my little girl and I'll defend her!"

Jesse sighed and looked over at Fareeha. She had decided to let them sort things out, and was leaning back into her chair, almost uninterested in what those two were saying. Finally, he stood up and forced Hanzo to do the same.

"Alright, I think you need some fresh air... Have ya' taken your medication this morning?"

"Jesse, please..."

Just as Jesse had finally managed to get his partner up to his feet Amanda came back, two cups of ice cream in hand.

"Hum... where are you guys going?"

Jesse managed a smile.

"Daddy just remembers he needs to buy something to bring to uncle Genji, we'll be right back."

"But I thought uncle Genji was back to Nepal?"

Both men fled without replying. Amanda sighed and placed both cups on the table. She looked to Fareeha, who was still reclined in her plastic chair.

"I feel like it's a code for something, but god if I know what."

Jesse led Hanzo to one of the wooden benches around one of the many fountains of the mall. They both sat down, and while Hanzo would have been happy with only silence for a few seconds, it seemed Jesse didn't want to waste any time:

"Hanzo, hon', I know you don't want Amanda to grow up, but for the love of God, she's eighteen! Do you remember what I was doing when I was eighteen? And you? What were you doing when you were eighteen?"

Hanzo chose not to answer, although he knew the answer very clearly. Jesse had already joined Blackwatch at eighteen. He was already working for his father, at eighteen.

Jesse sighed.

"We protected her as long as we could, and I know you want to keep protectin' her, but the fact is, in a few months she's goin' to college, and you can't prevent her from doing what she wants then."

Hanzo gave another glance toward Jesse, then looked at the fountain in front of him. A lot of small children had gathered around to wait for when the small geyser would burst out, their parents close. Hanzo remembered how often Amanda made them wait for this geyser when she was younger. He sighed.

"I'll... think... You should go back."

Jesse nodded. Hanzo heard his footsteps walking away. Rather quickly he became buried deep within his thoughts. Time had flown by so quickly, quicker than it ever had. He remembered how just yesterday he was teaching his little girl how to drive. Last week he was teaching her how to read and write in Japanese, and the week before she was covering the living room with drawings of dragons and gunslingers. It was only last month that Jesse and he were picking her at the hospital, this little bundle of pink barely able to keep her eyes open. But no, it wasn't last month, it was eighteen years ago. And Jesse was right. In just a few months she would be going to college, and he wouldn't be able to be there to protect her anymore.

Hanzo was so stuck in his thought he didn't hear light footsteps walk up to him. He only noticed her when Amanda sat down on the bench next to him and handed him a cup with two half-melted scoops of ice cream. She herself held a cone in her hand, on which two scoops had been stacked.

"Dad said you were here."

Hanzo looked at the cup but didn't even touch the small plastic spoon.

"Thank you. You should go back."

But Amanda didn't move, only continued to eat her ice cream.

"Aren't you the one who taught me that ice cream is better shared when you're sad?"

Hanzo had a small smile. He picked up the spoon and silently began to eat his own snack. Amanda waited until he had had a few spoons before she asked:

"So, what is going on? Does it have something to do with uncle Genji?"

"No, it does not."

Hanzo sighed. He placed the cardboard cup on his lap, holding it between two fingers.

"It's just... you've grown so fast, and I just realized that I won't be able to protect you now. You need to make your own choices now."

Amanda shrugged.

"I thought that was the whole principle of parenthood. I mean, that's what I understood from domestic economy anyway. You raise your kid and then you push them into the world, and you hope you raised them well."

Hanzo chuckled.

"Luckily for you, we raised you well."

Amanda smiled.

"That you did."

The fountain in front of them suddenly emitted strange gurgling sounds, and all the children around it began to squeal. The geyser shot out of the center of the fountain, reaching almost too easily the height of the railing of the top floor. Then all the water fell back with a splash, and all the children a bit too close looked like they had been rained upon. Amanda bit into her cone, waiting for the laughter and the squeals to die down.

"And, you know, college isn't so far. I could come back on weekends to see you guys. Of course, it would be easier if I had a car, but..."

Hanzo quickly shook his head.

"I am not buying you a car. You can barely drive."

"Yeah, but if I had a car I would get a lot of practice, don't you think?"

"Ask your dad."

Amanda sighed with a smile.

"But seriously, why the sentimental talk all of a sudden?" she asked.

"It's nothing... just... I trust you, I hope you know that, and I won't stop you from dating anyone. I mean, as long as they are not wanted criminals."

"You're one to talk..." Amanda joked.

It made Hanzo chuckle. Amanda finished her cone, cleaned her lips with the paper napkin she'd been holding, and smiled.

"I'm happy to hear you say that because I've been dating Alya for the past five months now."

Hanzo almost strangled himself with his ice cream.

"What?"

"I was a bit worried about your reaction, but I'm sure you won't do anything extreme, right?"

When he didn't reply, she asked again:

"Right?"

Hanzo coughed.

"Of course..."

He put his empty cup beside him on the bench and asked:

"Why haven't you told me anything? Does dad knows?"

"No, he doesn't. I was just scared, you know... I don't want you sending the dragons on my girlfriend!"

Hanzo was about to protest that he would never do something like this, but he decided to simply stay silent. Then he frowned:

"You've been dating for five months and I have noticed nothing..."

Amanda smiled.

"Guess I'm a good ninja after all."

Hanzo chuckled and passed his arm around his daughter to bring her in a side hug.

"Only because you had the best of teachers."

He pressed a kiss on her head, and she hugged him back.

"From now on, don't ever keep that kind of things from your dad and I, okay? I promise I won't unleash the dragons."

He let her go and stood up.

"So, how about we go back to your dad? Either he's been worrying or he has barely noticed you were gone."

Amanda laughed. Hanzo threw his empty cup away, and they walked back toward the restoration side of the mall side by side.

"So tell me, was Angela reading Alya's journal part of your plan for us to discover your relationship?" Hanzo asked.

"Oh no! Alya knows her mother's been reading her diary for a while now so she just likes to put things in there to freak her out."


End file.
